William Robinson
1914 Delaware County History pgs. 332-333
William Robinson resides in Earlville and has been associated with the
development of the county both as a farmer and as a skilled artisan, having
worked for a number of years as a mason. He was born in England on
the 26th of August, 1839, a son of John and Jane Robinson,
natives of Nottinghamshire. In 1855 they came to this country and made their
way to Delaware county, Iowa, living with their son, George, who
owned a farm
here. At the end of three years they purchased twenty acres of land in Delhi township
and there the father passed away at the age of eighty-eight years. In his early
life he followed the shoemaker's trade and subsequently learned the mason's
trade, at which he worked for a number of years in England. As the result of the explosion of
a gun he lost a hand and this incapacitated him for manual work. In his family
were four children, one of whom, a daughter, died in England in childhood. George passed away in
Cleveland, Ohio, about 1894. William is the next in
order of birth. Charles, mentioned
elsewhere in this work, is a resident of Delaware county.
William
Robinson began to learn the mason's trade while still residing in England and completed his apprenticeship
after coming to this county. He helped to lay the first brick in the erection
of the Lenox College building at Hopkinton and also
worked upon the first bridge across the river at Manchester. The town was very small at that
time and known as Burrington. Mr. Robinson has done a
great deal of work in the county along the line of his trade and is also connected
with the agricultural development, as he owns a fine farm comprising two
hundred and forty acres in Delhi township about two and one-half miles from
Earlville. He rents his land to his son and lives in Earlville, but derives a
material addition to his income from his farm.
On the 17th
of March, 1859, Mr. Robinson was married to Miss Jane Pym and six of the eleven
children born to them survive, namely: Mary, who is the wife of George Morris,
of Delhi township; Anna, who married
Alexander Young, of Delhi township; Charles, residing on the homestead in Delhi
township; Nellie, who lives in Earlville; Addie, who
married Frank Loomis and resides in Earlville; and Elizabeth, at home. The wife
and mother was called to her reward on the
3d of April, 1885, and Mr. Robinson subsequently remarried, Miss Sarah Swinburne becoming his wife on the 27th of
October, 1887.
Her parents, John and Sarah (Burley) Swinburne, are mentioned
at greater length in the sketch of J. W. Swinburne,
which appears elsewhere in this work.
Both Mr.
and Mrs. Robinson are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Earlville
and their lives are consistent with their religious profession. He is a
republican in his political belief and is loyal in his support of the
principles of that party. He has resided in Delaware county for almost six decades and it is a
matter of much gratification to him that he has had a part in the development
of the county as well as shared in its prosperity.
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